Brewster salary deal to spare 9 teaching jobs

Apr. 15, 2013

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SOUTHEAST — A three-year salary deal between the Brewster school district and its teachers and administrators would save nine teaching jobs slated to be cut in the upcoming 2013-14 year.

The deal, reached last week and scheduled to be voted on Tuesday by the school board, would freeze teacher and administrator salaries next year, making room in the budget for the jobs and for full-day kindergarten, among other programs.

“These concessions and the addition of $1,200,000 in state aid and $400,000 for conversion to full-day kindergarten turned what was anticipated to be severe reductions in personnel, programs and services for the 2013 year into a victory,” Superintendent Jane Sandbank said during a press conference Monday.

Some 20 positions had been targeted for cuts in the district’s preliminary budget for next year.

Under the deal, which must be approved by the board, only teachers with seniority would receive a 1.3 percent raise in the second year of the contract. All teachers would receive a .9 percent raise in the final year of the contract.

Further details about the deal were not immediately available Monday.

In addition to the teaching jobs and the full-day kindergarten, the deal would allow the district to restore modified sports programs and the Naval Junior Reserves Officers Training Corps.

The Brewster school board is expected to adopt the 2013-14 budget Tuesday night . A public hearing on the plan is scheduled for May 14. Residents in the district will vote on the budget on May 21.